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HNN extensions and embedding theorems for groups

Martin R. Bridson, Carl‐Fredrik Nyberg‐Brodda

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Source: Crossref

Published: May 1, 2026

DOI: 10.1112/jlms.70568

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Source abstract

Abstract The Higman–Neumann–Neumann (HNN) paper of 1949 is a landmark of group theory in the 20th century. The proof of its main theorem covers less than a page and uses only pre‐existing technology, but the construction that it introduced, the HNN extension , quickly became one of the principal tools of combinatorial group theory, widely used to build new groups and to describe enlightening decompositions of existing groups. In this article, we shall describe the contents of the HNN paper, and then discuss some of the important developments that followed in its wake, leading up to the central role that HNN extensions play in the Bass–Serre theory of groups acting on trees.

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HNN extensions and embedding theorems for groups — Mathematical Frontier Network